Experts for sustainable techniques to turn food waste into resources

Experts at a seminar here on Thursday stressed applying sustainable techniques for managing food waste and turning those into resources since about 80 per cent of urban solid waste is being generated from food waste daily.The country is generating 16,015 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day and it will be three times higher with 47,000 tonnes by 2025, they said. CIRDAP arranged the two-day seminar on different issues at its auditorium in the capital marking the 39th foundation anniversary of the regional development organisation.If an integrated collaborative approach with advanced technology in public and private initiatives could not be taken, food waste can create serious health hazard, said former FAO consultant Md Saleh Ahmed while presenting his keynote paper.He said possible solutions for system improvements through sustainable resource recovery technique is an urgent now to manage food waste and turn those into resources in Bangladesh.The food waste management expert said in food processing sectors in Bangladesh, the most prevalent and most polluting industries are shrimp processing, juice, paste, jelly, baking and potato chips. Depending on the type of food waste, he said, some of food wastes are used as feed for farm animals, cattle, sheep, pigs and other animals. Rapid growth of industries, lack of financial resources, proper policy, institutional weakness, improper choice of technology and lack of public awareness have rendered food waste management services far from satisfactory, Saleh said.He said existing infrastructure for waste management showed that waste collection efficiency in different urban areas varies from 37 per cent to 77 per cent with an average of 55 per cent.The overall waste collection situation is not very satisfactory as a huge amount of uncollected waste, a high proportion of which is organic, pollutes local environment rapidly, he said.ED of Waste Concern AH Maqsood Sinha, FAO representative Nur Ahamed Khondaker, chief waste management officer of DNCC Commodore Mohammad Abdur Razzak also spoke at the seminar as panel discussants.